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Food Porn Friday – The Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea

Yes, the Royal Wedding is happening within hours or has already happened, depending on what time you are reading this post. If you’re like me, you’re not getting up at 3:00 a.m. to start watching all the proceedings. Thankfully, everything will be repeated for us. And repeated. And repeated. And repeated.

High Tea is often a misnomer. Most people refer to afternoon tea as high tea because they think it sounds regal and lofty, when in all actuality, high tea, or “meat tea” is dinner. High tea, in Britain, at any rate, tends to be on the heavier side. American hotels and tea rooms, on the other hand, continue to misunderstand and offer tidbits of fancy pastries and cakes on delicate china when they offer a “high tea.”

Afternoon tea (because it was usually taken in the late afternoon) is also called “low tea” because it was usually taken in a sitting room or withdrawing room where low tables (like a coffee table) were placed near sofas or chairs generally in a large withdrawing room. There are three basic types of Afternoon, or Low Tea:

Cream Tea – Tea, scones, jam and cream

Light Tea – Tea, scones and sweets

Full Tea – Tea, savories, scones, sweets and dessert

In England, the traditional time for tea was four or five o’clock and no one stayed after seven o’clock. Most tea rooms today serve tea from three to five o’clock. The menu has also changed from tea, bread, butter and cakes, to include three particular courses served specifically in this order:

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4 comments

I’ve been making scones lately (from a mix, I must admit, tho I used to make really good tea biscuits). I wonder if all the hype over the wedding placed the scone thought in my head?
Personally, I’ll wait for the highlights DVD. No cable = no tv, but I can listen to it on CBC radio.
Enjoy your tea tomorrow afternoon!

I hope you were able to listen to it. I didn’t fall asleep last night until 3:00 so I napped this afternoon. The video that has been released runs about 1 3/4 hours so I’ll go get a treat and hopefully a winning lottery ticket and watch it on the weekend.

I Watched the wedding today, it was beautiful, had I been in London I too would have camped out to watch instead of on TV. Every now and then we get a little reminder of what it is to be British and today was one of those moments. All the pomp and splendour of the parade made me puff up with Pride.”This is history in the making” i thought. Long live the Queen!

The Royals certainly know how to put something like this together with a great combination of ceremony and respect for the occassion. I saw some pictures and it looked beautiful. I’m looking forward to watching it.